


Connection

by samariumwriting



Category: Fire Emblem: Fuukasetsugetsu | Fire Emblem: Three Houses
Genre: Fluff, Gen, Male Friendship, Not Canon Compliant, minimal spoilers, pre-release
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-24
Updated: 2019-07-24
Packaged: 2020-07-17 21:57:38
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,389
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19963864
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/samariumwriting/pseuds/samariumwriting
Summary: If Claude was being honest, he’d never really been one for birthdays. The feeling of many eyes on him wasn’t, contrary to what many believed, actually something he enjoyed. Eyes meant observation, observation meant scrutiny, and scrutiny meant expectations he didn’t want to put the effort in to live up to.





	Connection

**Author's Note:**

> Hap birth Claude! Obvs this is pre-release, so I don't know all the deets. As such, this probably isn't canon-compliant, though I really like the idea of the lords meeting at some point before they go to school together.
> 
> Post-release update to this: oops. This is completely 100% non-canon, but it was fun!

If Claude was being honest, he’d never really been one for birthdays. The feeling of many eyes on him wasn’t, contrary to what many believed, actually something he enjoyed. Eyes meant observation, observation meant scrutiny, and scrutiny meant expectations he didn’t want to put the effort in to live up to.

A birthday at home started perfectly fine. He’d get up and eat a meal with his parents (both of them, for once, which wasn’t the norm but they always made time for him on his birthday), they’d give him a couple of gifts. A book or two, a nice shirt, some sweets from Faerghus. Nothing particularly lavish, because that’s what he preferred. The spoiling would come from everyone else.

Then began the usual routine; Claude would ask his parents if he could go riding. He’d asked every birthday since he’d learned to ride a horse if he could, and their response was the same every time. They’d look at each other, grimace, and inform him of the party they’d planned for his birthday because all the nobles in the Alliance wanted to have a chance to see him all grown up.

Funny, how he was ‘all grown up’ every year, and how they spent the whole thing giving him gifts, talking to him about politics they were sure he’d understand because he was a ‘big boy, now’ (he didn’t really start understanding until he was in his teens and that was when he started pulling their legs).

The point was, he’d never enjoyed his birthdays, particularly. They were more about politics than about him, and it never felt like a celebration when he spent the whole day doing things he really didn’t like all that much. That said, the company did get a lot more interesting has he got older.

Because, once he was old enough for combat training, old enough for real love poetry (well, at least old enough for the real love poetry that his parents hadn’t seen him taking from the library), old enough for proper politics...he could meet people from outside of the Leicester Alliance. Important people.

That was how he first met Dimitri Alexandre Blaiddyd. He’d been aware that things had not been good over in Faerghus (not good was an understatement, and Claude well knew that, but his parents didn’t like talking about the details in front of him), but apparently they’d blown over a bit, and now the young Prince was in the Leicester Alliance. For some reason.

Claude was perfectly aware that it was rather convenient for Dimitri to be here, and for his birthday of all things. Neither of the other ruling families had ever shown any interest in engaging with the Leicester Alliance all that much; still bitter over the past, seeing them as inferior, or maybe they just didn’t understand how a rule by more than one family actually worked.

Either way, Dimitri visited on Claude’s fifteenth birthday, a small entourage in tow. He was quiet, yet flourished under the attention that people gave him. He was polite, almost infuriatingly so, mostly because Claude hadn’t expected him to be so normal. Or so nice.

His birthday that year was exactly as boring as it always was, but the day after was far better. In the morning, he took his horse and went riding, like he tried to do most fine mornings in the summer. But, unlike usual, he encountered someone else as he went.

“Oh, Marquess von Riegan, I didn’t expect to see you out here.” His voice didn’t betray any of the surprise he was apparently feeling, but Claude was used to false feelings, or at least people hiding their emotions. He knew this game, and he could play it.

“No need to stick to titles and pleasantries here, Prince Blaiddyd,” he returned, shooting the younger boy a wink. His smile faltered for a moment, but returned almost immediately. He was good.

“Then I must insist you address me similarly...Claude,” he said. “Just Dimitri, though don’t let my guardians hear of it.”

“Of course not, Dimitri, this can be just between you and me,” he said. “Ride with me for a short while? I’d hazard I know these woodlands better than you.”

“I wouldn’t be surprised if you did,” he said, clicking his tongue to get his horse moving again. “May I inquire as to why you’re riding so early in the day?”

Claude shrugged, leading his horse down the paths that would take them to the lake. May as well give Dimitri a show. “I like to do this,” he said. “It’s fun, and it’ll be too hot later in the day.”

“It is rather warm here,” Dimitri said after a moment. “Are all your summers like this?”

“Absolutely,” he replied. “We don’t get so much of that snow that you get at home.”

“Ah, yes,” Dimitri said, a shadow passing over his face momentarily. No talking about home, got it. Bad things had happened in Faerghus and Claude probably should have remembered or at least guessed that one, but hey, he wasn’t perfect, and Dimitri hadn’t referenced the events at all since he’d arrived.

They lapsed into silence for a short while, just riding and listening to the sounds of the forest. “I rather like riding myself,” Dimitri said. “It has an enjoyable rhythm to it, and there’s something undeniably relaxing about conquering the wilderness, in a way.”

“I wouldn’t call it conquering, myself,” he said. Sounded a bit empire-y for his liking, but he wasn’t about to turn round and call Dimitri a budding tyrant, irregardless of his feelings on monarchy (also not a good thing to mention, given recent events). “For me, it’s more of a cooperation. My horse and I, at the mercy of the trees and woodlands. They choose to accommodate us.”

“That’s an interesting way to view the world,” Dimitri said, a decidedly thoughtful look on his face. Of course, people outside of the Leicester Alliance didn’t really view the natural world in the same way. Claude wasn’t surprised by that, it was just easy to forget in the spur of the moment.

“But maybe not as strange as you’re implying,” he said, and their conversation lapsed into silence once more.

It was a good day. He spent the whole morning with Dimitri, and he learned rather a lot more than he’d expected to about the boy and his culture. It was interesting, though he wouldn’t say he agreed with a lot of it. But it was fun, spending time with him. Far more fun than he’d expected when he’d first seen him (he looked a bit like a wet blanket on first impressions).

A couple of years passed, and when he turned eighteen, Claude spent his birthday at the Officers Academy. That was a new experience; no breakfast with his parents, a significantly reduced number of nobles to interact with, and a completely different environment to operate in.

Some things, however, had changed in exactly the way Claude had wanted them to. The evening of the twenty third, Dimitri approached him once lessons were done for the day. “Good evening, Claude,” he said, the usual easy smile gracing his face. He smiled a fair bit more than he had three years ago. It was a decidedly welcome change.

“How’s it going, Dimitri?” he asked.

“Well,” he said, both of them knowing that an answer like that from either of them was ever only the tip of the iceberg. “I thought I ought to wish you a happy birthday, considering that you might be rather busy tomorrow.”

“Not at all,” he said, “but thank you. We’re only equally busy with classes.”

“I see,” Dimitri said, the thoughtful look that had grown so familiar taking hold of his expression again. “If that’s the case, perhaps you might join me tomorrow evening for a ride in the mountains?”

“It would be my pleasure,” he said with a grin. Just what he’d been planning on doing on his own, so now he could do it with welcome company. Maybe this year’s birthday would be the kind he was much more comfortable with, and that could only be a change for the better. He could be the birthday kind of guy if it just meant flowers and time with a friend.

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading! If you have anything to say (tho not plot details that tell me for a fact that I've got stuff wrong) please leave a comment, I really appreciate any and all feedback :)


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